Texas A&M Project Hoping To End Alarming Decline Of The Bobwhite Quail

Posted March 12, 2014

Photo of Bobwhite
Quail

COLLEGE STATION – The iconic bobwhite quail, a favorite among
hunters and wildlife enthusiasts alike throughout the United
States, has literally flown the coop – its numbers have been
decreasing alarmingly for decades, but a groundbreaking project led
by a team of Texas A&M University researchers could prove to be
a big move toward understanding historic and future bobwhite
population trends.

Dr. Chris Seabury and research associates (Yvette Halley and
Eric Bhattarai), along with members of the Schubot Exotic Bird
Health Center (Drs. Ian Tizard, Donald Brightsmith) at Texas
A&M’s College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
have completed the first-ever draft genome assembly for a wild
bobwhite quail named Pattie-Marie, and their work has been
published in the current issue of the scientific journal PLOS
ONE.

The project, which took two years to complete, also involved
colleagues from the University of Missouri (Drs. Jerry Taylor and
Jared Decker), Texas A&M AgriLife Research (Drs. Charles
Johnson and Dale Rollins), Texas A&M’s Department of Wildlife
and Fisheries Sciences (Dr. Markus Peterson), and two
private-industry scientists (Dr. Scot E. Dowd and Paul M.
Seabury).

“By sequencing and assembling the bobwhite quail genome, the
team produced the most comprehensive resource currently available
for cutting-edge interdisciplinary research in the bobwhite,”
Seabury says.

Dr. Chris
Seabury

One of the most prized American hunting birds, and a cultural
icon among outdoor enthusiasts, the bobwhite quail has undergone a
mysterious decline that has been documented for more than 50
years. Once present by the millions in the Midwest, South and
Southwest, bobwhite numbers are down as much as 80 percent in some
areas.

In Oklahoma, declining bobwhite quail numbers are especially
alarming, with one study relating that decline to the number of
quail hunters, which has dropped from 111,000 in 1986 to only
30,000 last year.

The bird was recently named the No.1 bird in decline in North
America by the Audubon Society.

In Texas, equally serious declines have also been noted.
According to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department figures, the
bobwhite quail has declined every year since 1981.

At present, there appears to be no single or specific reason for
the decline. Loss of natural habitat, changes in land use,
pesticides, the potential for bird diseases, and even climate
change have all been mentioned, but no definitive explanation has
been discovered for the quail decline.

“Our study is important because prior to this, we had no ability
to use whole-genome technologies to monitor levels of genetic
diversity over time, define the genetic relationships among
existing populations, or draw important inferences regarding
bobwhite physiological interactions with their environment,”
Seabury explains.

“We now have a formal resource for studying the bird and
identifying new or perhaps even more specific reasons for its
serious decline. This resource gives us a way to look at new
population and management strategies, but also a means to conduct
very detailed molecular studies focusing on ecotoxicology,
reproduction, and physiology.

“Now we can peel back new layers of science to thoroughly look
at many different levels of the quail problem, including the
utilization of whole-genome information for monitoring modern
genetic diversity, reconstructing historic population trends, and
even considering genetic similarity in relation to the
translocation of wild bobwhites to suitable habitats.”

The study was funded by private donations from Joe Crafton,
members of Park Cities Quail, and the Rolling Plains Quail Research
Foundation.